Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

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usual suspect
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by usual suspect »

Wow..I wish you both lots of luck (in a nice context) & as JW posted earlier..all of us here will be following your progress so we need those photos from you!..5-5-5!
DO hope all the planning pays off & have a safe trip.. :cheers: :cheers:
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by migrant »

Sounds like a great trip, hope to read more!!

A friend did the Peking China to Paris road rally up through Mongolia and across and had a great time
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by lindosfan1 »

This trip sounds wonderful. Please post some pics.
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Chromeman »

A trip like this in our day and age could have every opportunity to be memorable when everyone else just flies over going from A to B. And the possibilities to document, and even monetize on it is absolutely present.

You could just post a few messages with some pictures here, to running a blog site with text, pictures and movies up to publishing a book about the trip and/or making a TV program or DVD about it.

And there should absolutely be a market for something like this, even if you decide not to try to make money on it!

A couple of the most popular TV shows (short series) on the national public TV station in Norway the last few years were when in the first series back in 2012 (I think it was recorded in 2011), a couple of popular Norwegian comedians participated in the Mongol Rally where they started the trip in Oslo in an old, 40 year old retired fire truck, and ended up in Ulan Bator, Mongolia after 19,000 kilometres through 16 different countries with a lot of interesting situations during the trip.

Since the program got so popular, they decided to do another one that run a little over 1 year ago on the tube and recorded in 2012. This time they went for a 3000 km trip across India from Shillong in East to Jaisalmer in West in an auto rickshaw (or tuk-tuk as they are called here in Thailand)! ;-)

And I think there is talk about a third season too.
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by redzonerocker »

A fantastic journey ahead :thumb: :cheers:

Out of interest, do you have a time limit or will you just be doing it at your own leisure??
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Dannie Boy »

I agree that it sounds fantastic, but you're all going to have to be patient on reports etc, as the journey doesn't begin until May.
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Parahandy »

Dannie Boy - you are, of course, totally right about that - lift-off is currently scheduled for May 10th, but we are fast learning the truth behind the theory that the one thing that makes God laugh is the sight of men making plans... In the meantime we will try to keep you up to date on the organisation of the thing. This probably won't be of huge interest to many people, but our experiences with international bureaucracy might help anyone else with a sense of adventure, but no other sense at all.

RZR - Oh to have the freedom and resources to just take our time as it pleases us, but, sadly, we are but mere mortals with all the usual constraits. Really the only reason we are doing it, or are even able to do it, is because of the new term arangements at the university where we both teach. You may be aware that, because of Thailand's impending arrival in the AEC, we are adjsting our terms to suit that of the rest of the community, so after this term - which is in the process of finishing now - we won't start normal teaching again until mid-August, and in the meantime, those nice people will continue to pay our salaries, such as they are. I've always been a bit of a dreamer with wild plans to do this and that (hence our life here in Thailand), but for obvisous reasons have either had the time or the money, but never both at the same time, if that makes sense. All of a sudden, this opportunity hove into sight, and we had to take advantage of it, since it won't be back soon! Our schedule is therefore still a bit restricted. At the moment we leave here on 10th May and arrive in Suffolk on 12th June, but see comment above re God and plans...

Thanks for the recommendation re Urumqi, Bamboo Grove, but, sadly, we will be arriving in the railway station at about seven one morning and leaving again at nearly midnight that night. That said, I am told that the city is pretty boring, so if I can organise something as you suggest that day, then I will, although the lovely Doris assures me that Chinese trains can be up to six hours late, so don't hold your breath! Oddly, the Chinese Embassy were not keen on the idea of our going to Urumqi (a bit too close to Tibet?), and insisted that if we wanted to go there, we must have an invitation from a travel agent in Urumqi to go there. Obviously, the easiest way to find an Urimqi travel agent who can produce said invitation is to go there and look for one...

Chromeman - you are absolutely right about the modern-day possibilities re recording the journey in various different formats, and I intend to do just that. One way or another, we have the necessary technological gismos to do it, but, having said that, I want to try to remember that this journey is for our own experience and, hopefully, enjoyment, rather than for an outside audience. I remember hearing someone complaining many years ago, in the early age of personal video cameras, that people don't go on holidays anymore, they just Sony them, and I'm sort of trying to avoid that syndrome. In the end, however, if I/we have enough material in various formats, then we might well try to put something together, even if it is extremely amateur, for family and friends, and anybody else who might be interested. No promises, however!

Time to stop writing and start planning. 'Planning what?' I hear you cry. Not quite sure yet, but I'm sure that I'll find something. Anything to keep God happy...

Have a great weekend -

P.
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Khundon1975 »

From what I have read about Alfa's, not taking it was a very wise choice, as the constant breakdowns and lack of spares would have added at least another year to your journey. :duck:

Good luck and send us some postcards along the way. :thumb:
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Chromeman »

Coconuts Bangkok have a story about a young Thai couple who took a similar trip but in reverse order from Nottingham to Bangkok.

http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/02/19/l ... am-bangkok
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by caller »

Chromeman wrote:Coconuts Bangkok have a story about a young Thai couple who took a similar trip but in reverse order from Nottingham to Bangkok.
What a great video - thanks for posting that!

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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Vital Spark »

Thanks for that Chromeman, it's a lovely vid. We're doing more of a whistle-stop trip in half the time, which is a bit of a shame, but (sadly) work gets in the way. With the recent stuff going on in the Ukraine, we've decided to skip Kiev and go through Lithuania instead (Riga and Vilnius). Mr.VS picked up Vietnamese visas this morning, still waiting for Doris to give us the requisite paper for the Chinese one. Once we've got the visas it's all systems go!

VS
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by GLCQuantum »

As with other posters, I'm extremely jealous and looking forward to, hopefully, following your journey via blog or any other source...

All the best to the both of you on this adventure.

:cheers:
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by moja »

We wish you well and are very jealous! Look forward to seeing photos and videos when you take them but I know what you mean about them taking over and it is the memories that count!
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Vital Spark »

One more visa to get! Mr.VS went to the Chinese embassy a couple of weeks ago, together with the important piece of paper from Doris in China, and they sent him away again. This was after waiting for more than 4 hours to get to the window. When he arrived in the morning he had ticket number 219 - the counters were then displaying customer number 9! When he finally got to see someone they told him that we couldn't apply for our visa more than 3 months before the intended trip. If they had issued one that day, then it would have expired when we were halfway across the country. Come back next week. So, he went back last Tuesday. Not such a long wait this time, but the nice young lady told him that we needed a letter from our employers here in Thailand to confirm that we had a job here, and would be coming back. Luckily, he'd taken along our contracts of employment, and they did the trick. Went back on Friday to collect our passports. Hooray! Finally got a visa for China. Got the Cambodian one on line, so we just need the paperwork from Natasha to apply for the Russian one. Just hope that we get the pleasant young lady at the counter, and not the rather frosty bloke.

I'll be glad when we get all the red tape out of the way, and can then book/reserve the train tickets.

VS
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by fabman »

Good luck to you :)

i am sure you will have a wonderful adventure :)

please post some photos when you get the time :D
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